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To To Vietnamese, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Perth, Restaurants, Vietnamese

Oh my goodness!  What bliss it has been this week to finally return back to my gluten free diet!  I know it will take me a few weeks for my skin to heal and a few more weeks to maybe months on top of that for my gut to settle down……but my mood?  It is astonishing how avoiding eating just one seemingly harmless little protein can alter my mind so dramatically.  For the past six weeks I have carried a whinging, negative dark presence in my mind that was constantly criticising and complaining about everything and anything, and made dealing with all the other physical effects of eating gluten so much more difficult.  I was oblivious to the presence of this monkey on my back until now when I can see he has left!  My energy and excitement for life is returning and my sense of humour is lifted!

One of my bridesmaids suggested we go out for a casual meal to kick off the CHOGM long weekend. As we both had later shifts at work that day we opted for an easy peasy local night out on the strip in Vic Park. To To’s was packed full of customers and only had a couple of spare tables.  This is always a good sign.  After enquiring about gluten free dishes, we were promptly assigned a very flamboyant waiter who was bubbling to help us.  He pondered expressively on options for us and was keen to ensure that we chose a good range of dishes. For Vietnamese starters, I can never go past fresh rice paper rolls.  Unfortunately they only offered prawn rolls which meant my bridesmaid couldn’t try any as she doesn’t eat seafood.  I would have liked there to be a pork or chicken option for those who don’t eat prawns.  Nevertheless, the rolls were fresh and neatly rolled and the dipping sauce was not too overly sweet.

Chicken Satay

The sang choy bow was made with chicken and pork mince.  The meat was very moist and seasoned perfectly, however silly me forgot to ask for the shallots to be omitted and I had to pick them out.  We also ordered chicken satay for my bridesmaids children but unfortunately they contained gluten so I did not try.  They gave us a generous serve of these and I was informed they were finger licking good.

Stir fried chicken with chilli and lemongrass

For mains we were recommended to order the stir fried chicken with chilli and lemongrass, Vietnamese style beef, chilli and pepper spare ribs and stir fried vegetables with garlic and oyster sauce.  Both the chicken and the beef dishes contained copious amounts of onions which I had once again completely forgotten to request omission.   I guess after six weeks of foodie freedom it will take a bit for me to remember to ask for all the finite details of the fructose malabsorption part of my diet.  Thankfully fructose ingestion doesn’t mess with me to the extent that gluten does.  The onion was in big strips so it was pretty easy to pick it all out.  By the end of the night I had a cute little pile of onion next to my plate.

Vietnamese beef (with chicken satay garnish!)

Despite having to negotiate my chopsticks around the presence of so much onion I really enjoyed the lemongrass chicken.  The beef on the other hand was quite dry and bland and I wouldn’t recommend it.  Unfortunately when the ribs were brought out to our table we noted that they were covered in batter and called our exuberant waiter over to double check that this wasn’t wheat flour batter.  He was very apologetic and offered to replace the dish.  This wasn’t before one of the kids managed to quickly nab a pork rib to try! According to his palate it tasted like KFC so he renamed the dish VFC! (Vietnamese Fried Chicken).  As a replacement we were offered a dish that wasn’t on their menu – some roast pork.  This dish was definitely the best of the mains – the pork was deliciously tender and marinated to perfection and enjoyed by all at the table.  With our bellies comfortably full we all skipped over the road to Baskin and Robbins for an ice-cream fix to end our chilled out evening and we were very satisfied and ready for our long weekend!

Food 6/10 Venue 6.5/10 Service 7/10

 

To To Vietnamese
875 Albany Hwy, East Victoria Park | (08) 9355 2388
 
 

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